Dan, I think Suss was mainly talking about Auto Blogs and media outlets... how, its just been the NA press that have been slamming the DCT overall... (when they were rejoicing it before the production model was even released)... I find it odd as well, since we know other global markets get the EXACT same DCT tranny as well.

And the "Mexican" comments earlier are laughable at best, since VW and others have been making entire cars there for years now (even exporting them back to the Fatherland) without issue.....

Yes, its pretty much only been the North American press that have trashed the DCT.

I could probably dig up the articles from the first drives where Car and Driver praised the DCT before they decided that it was cooler to pan it along side every other N.A. Journalists for no apparent reasoning behind their sudden flip-flop other than it being the popular thing to do.

"Amazingly, the only automatic is an expensive, dry dual-clutch six-speed. Ford predicts 95 percent of buyers will opt for this box, so we’re happy to report that it is simply terrific, grabbing gears with disciplined seamlessness and right-now urgency, fouled only by some lazy part-throttle upshifts to sixth. Too bad the self-shifting function is largely spoiled by a minuscule up/down gear-toggling switch affixed leech-like to the gear lever’s neck. Genuine paddles—or a separate fore/aft gate—should be mandatory with any dual-clutch transmission."http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/...d-focus-review

That sounds like praise to me, but that was on a pre production drive of a U.S. spec model. However as soon as they tested an SEL they then suddenly decided to blast the transmission as being lazy all of the time.

"The 2012 Focus features Ford’s PowerShift twin-clutch six-speed automatic (standard on the SEL, $1095 on lower trim levels), but the technology might have been yanked out of the oven a few minutes early. It’s one of our few gripes with the car. Shifts can feel seamless if the driver is utterly unhurried, but they’re rather slow if there’s any attempt at upping the tempo. There were other problems, too. With 3000 miles on our test car, the clutches were already a little glazed and chattery, with vibrations working up the steering column when we rolled off under light throttle. And once, while maintaining about 35 mph on level ground, the SEL did a five-three downshift for no obvious reason. A glitch in an early production model, perhaps."

What a difference 1 month makes in their opinions, but we must note that if it was an abused press demonstrator that they drove I can imagine it wouldn't be treated better than a rented car. Even the SE sedan rental I had last November with 17k miles on it felt like a new car as far as the way it drove and demonstrated none of this clutch chatter/ glazing.

Its another reason why I can't take the U.S. press very seriously on this issue since they are so quick to laud and then lambast the exact same car.